Chapter 97:

March 29, 1940

London, the capital of Britain

“France is drastically increasing its armaments?”

The British Prime Minister, Halifax, furrowed his brow as he looked at the report he had received.

“Didn’t they whine about a lack of armaments during their rearmament back when the Radical Party was in power?”

“They did, Your Excellency, the Prime Minister.”

Halifax read the report from MI6 (British Intelligence Department) with eyes full of disbelief.

“With what money on earth are they pulling this off?”

Unable to imagine that they were increasing their armaments to the point of putting themselves in a pile of debt, Halifax could only come to one conclusion.

“Well, it’s impossible to know for certain at the moment.”

Back when the Radical Party was in power, Britain and France, as firm allies, had a frequent information exchange to counter Germany.

But after La Rocque’s French Social Party took power, while neither country had formally declared the alliance annulled, the information exchange had all but ceased.

“Hmm, are they trying to go to war with Germany in the end?”

Halifax narrowed his eyes, making what was an extremely natural deduction for him.

Germany was practically sponsoring Poland, with whom it had been at war, alongside Britain, and it was backing Finland, so at this point, Germany had to be considered a strategic ally of Britain.

Germany, which had run rampant under Hitler, had changed its regime on its own and become a friendly shield against the Soviets for Britain; France starting a war with Germany now would do Britain no good.

“I suppose I should meet with the French Prime Minister once.”

The Radical Party regime in France had tried to start a war with Germany, only to have their regime overthrown, which forced France to abandon Poland.

But despite that, the situation where France's new regime refused to give up and was intensively increasing its armaments perplexed Halifax.

In any case, Halifax wanted to maintain the current situation.

After Germany had finally shown generosity to Poland for the sake of their common enemy, the Soviet Union, the incident of France declaring war on Germany and causing an escalation of war was by no means welcome.

“Then I will send a request to them.”

As Halifax nodded at the reply from Minister of Foreign Affairs Cadogan, a secretary came in and announced.

“Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, Member of Parliament Churchill has arrived.”

“Ah, our uninvited guest is quite diligent.”

Halifax said with an exaggerated theatrical tone, and Cadogan gave a bitter smile and shook his head.

Winston Churchill was still non-mainstream in the Conservative Party, but with the support of pro-German Faction companies and the opposition party, he was expanding his influence within the party, however small.

And he was one of those who frequently expressed opposition to Halifax’s current policies.

“Then, as you requested, I will try to make contact with France.”

“Please do, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

I will deal with the enemy from within.”

Halifax watched Cadogan leave and smiled.

“Show him in. He’s the sort of person who’ll be even more of a nuisance by talking to the press if I don’t listen to him.”

-

His short, stout body and dissatisfied face gave the impression that his nickname, the ‘British Bulldog,’ suited Winston Churchill very well.

Today, his expression was especially more dissatisfied, making his impression even stronger, and the British Prime Minister Halifax greeted such a Churchill with a smile.

“Welcome, Member of Parliament. It’s been a while.”

“I requested to see you last week, but you only granted permission this week, so if it’s been a while, it’s been a while.”

Halifax gave a slightly sour smile.

He never had pleasant things to say, so why would I want to meet him.

Of course, true to Winston Churchill, he got straight to the point, regardless of whether Halifax’s expression soured.

“Prime Minister. To be lifting the mobilization order in the current state of affairs, are you in your right mind?”

Halifax immediately furrowed his brow at Churchill’s rude remarks, but he answered steadily.

“We will not be getting involved in the war, Member of Parliament.”

After the Munich Agreement, Halifax had halted the intensive rearmament Britain had been pursuing, and now he was preparing to transition to a peacetime economy by lifting the mobilization order.

“Not getting involved in the war? Look at the state of Europe right now! Those damned Commies have invaded Poland after Finland!”

Halifax made a bored expression as if to say,Ah, this again, but Churchill jabbered on with a look of frustration.

“Amid the neglect of Chamberlain and you, France has finally had a guy like a Fascist take power and is preparing to get in bed with the Fascists, so how long is Britain going to stand by and just watch a fire across the river?”

“A guy like a Fascist? Your remarks about the Prime Minister of a single country are excessive, Member of Parliament.

France may have shown some unsettling actions recently, but in any case, it is still our ally.”

Churchill took out a lighter and lit a cigar, and regardless of whether Halifax’s face scrunched up, he blew out cigar smoke and then opened his mouth again.

“Still our ally, my foot! What kind of ally doesn’t even coordinate its foreign policy! Have you already forgotten what Attlee said in Parliament, Prime Minister!”

Churchill was getting more and more excited as he spoke, and eventually, Halifax, too, began to feel the limit of his patience.

“What on earth are you doing, Member of Parliament Churchill! Will you only be satisfied when our youths again! Again! get involved in that war in Europe and shed their blood?”

“If war is necessary, we must fight it! On the Continent, dangerous men are playing with dangerous weapons, what parent would just stand by and watch until their child gets stabbed!”

Upon hearing Churchill's words, Halifax's face became one of complete absurdity.

“Britain has still not recovered from the trauma of the last Great War! Why do you think we have been striving to create a bulwark that will bleed for us!”

“Hah! Create it? It appeared on its own! Isn’t it your foreign policy that lost the bulwark we already had!”

At the sharp remark that Nazi Germany had become the Fourth Reich through a coup d'état, becoming a bulwark on its own, and that France had completely turned against Britain, Halifax shouted in a rage.

“That damned intervention, intervention! While a mere Member of Parliament like you was crying for war against Hitler during the Munich Agreement, I, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was busy touring the British Commonwealth (the British colonial dominions like Canada and Australia)! To check just how much military force they could send if Britain went to war!”

If a war had broken out during the Munich Agreement, Britain wouldn't have even been able to dispatch two divisions to Czechoslovakia.

Britain absolutely needed time, and if Britain had gone to war then, the coup d'état of the Fourth Reich wouldn't have happened.

Churchill’s behavior, ignoring even such a basic situation and criticizing the Munich Agreement as a diplomatic mistake and a defeat to Hitler, was nothing more than a child’s tantrum to Halifax.

“I don’t know how it was for you, stuck as a has-been politician after the last Great War, but I served as the Governor-General of India, and I have served as a diplomat! I saw with my own two eyes that cracks were forming in the British Empire that we in Britain are so proud of!”

It was Halifax who, plagued by Mahatma Gandhi's Indian Independence Movement, held direct negotiations with him and managed to smooth things over, albeit temporarily.

He believed that if Britain were to exhaust its national power in another war now, it would lead to the result of Britain losing its status as one of the imperialist Great Powers.

And by the standards of the original history, his thoughts weren't wrong.

“Our Britain will be strong forever! As it always has, to lead Europe and become a great empire that strongly binds the Commonwealth, our dominance over Europe must—”

Churchill shouted in rebuttal, but Halifax yelled back at him.

“Nonsense! We don’t have that strength anymore! Don’t you know yet? Thanks to that war you love and the Great Depression, we are struggling just with the maintenance costs of that proud Royal Navy and the colonies!”

Churchill shut his mouth and glared at Halifax with displeased eyes.

“Let me make it clear, as long as I am Prime Minister, Britain will never intervene in a European war.

I will focus on colonial policy to maintain the influence of the British Empire, and I will never see the sorry state of Britain’s proud youths going out to the Continent to die to protect another country!”

“Then do you intend to just stand by and watch while the threat of those Commies swallows the Continent?”

Halifax scoffed at Churchill's words.

“Hah! What kind of threat are they when they can't even break through Finland and Poland.

Even if they fall, there’s Germany, and rather than spill the precious blood of the British, we should support Germany and have them bleed instead.”

“There were many politicians who thought like you during the last Great War! Thanks to finally sending in the military only when France was on the brink of ruin, just how much blood for so many years—”

Halifax cut Churchill off with a face showing his annoyance was boiling over.

“Do you know what Australia said when we asked about their intention to enter the war? They said they didn’t want to participate in another Gallipoli!”

“How dare they!”

Winston Churchill was enraged. The Gallipoli Campaign he had led in the last Great War was infamous as a disgraceful operation that only produced immense sacrifices from Britain and the Commonwealth nations.

“That wasn't my responsibility! If the headquarters had commanded more properly—”

“Why, who wouldn't know you’re preparing to shift the blame to me if we get involved in a war this time and fail? I still remember the shenanigans you pulled on John Fisher!”

When Winston Churchill was openly condemned for leading the Gallipoli Campaign but trying to shift the blame to First Sea Lord Admiral John Fisher and pull himself out, he panted heavily with a reddened face and said nothing.

Halifax also panted heavily, then grabbed and loosened his necktie before opening his mouth.

“I have heard your opinion well, Member of Parliament Churchill. But I want to pass on peace, not war, to the youths of Britain.

You may leave now.”

His political partner, Neville Chamberlain, was dying.

Setting aside his own political beliefs, Halifax at least wanted his comrade to close his eyes while looking at a peaceful fatherland.

Winston Churchill, still panting heavily, rose from his seat and opened his mouth.

“Even if you are not interested in war, war is interested in you, Prime Minister.”

Halifax scoffed.

Trotsky's words. What an anti-communism warmonger.

“Hah, let it come. As long as the Royal Navy exists, no one can dare to threaten Britain.”

The situation of France openly approaching the Fascists was irritating, but even so, they were still nominally Britain's ally and couldn't openly become Britain's enemy. That was Halifax’s judgment.

Now that the true state of the German Navy was known, even if all the countries on the European Continent joined hands, they could not surpass the naval power of the single nation of Britain.

In a situation where it was losing the hegemony of an era, that alone was Britain's pride, and the source of Halifax's belief.

-

April 1, 1940

Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union – The Kremlin An unconcealable fury glittered on the face of the Soviet Union's General Secretary, Stalin.

The three men standing before him, Field Marshal Voroshilov, Field Marshal Budyonny, and Chief of the General Staff Shaposhnikov, were sweating profusely.

“Anything to say?”

Thanks to the winter being colder and longer than usual, the Rasputitsa came late, but in the end, the Soviet Army could not get past the defense line that Poland had built.

“I am deeply sorry, Comrade General Secretary.”

At the words spoken in unison by the three men, Stalin let out a hollow laugh.

The disgrace of the vanguard unit was one thing, but when the main force arrived and attacked with an army of a million, Stalin had thought there would be at least some results from the offensive.

But—

“You lost 20% of the deployed military force and tanks? Are you all kidding me right now?”

Far from results, they had suffered immense losses, and without being able to breakthrough even an inch of the enemy defense line, the Rasputitsa had arrived.

Even the Finnish Front, which had been showing some results, was now just twiddling its thumbs after all the main forces were pulled out.

Stalin said, veins popping on his face.

“It’s become clear that the tanks we have now are like paper against the anti-tank guns and tanks those German bastards have handed out, so resume the T-34 production plan that you were about to scrap.”

“G-General Secretary Comrade. But the T-34 is a product with many defects, rather than that, my plan—”

Field Marshal Grigory Kulik, who had been standing by as if it was none of his business, was aghast and tried to stop the General Secretary, but the General Secretary shouted in fury.

“So when will that be ready! I don’t need a perfect weapon! An adequate weapon that can be mass-produced right now to breakthrough their defense line is enough for me!”

Field Marshal Kulik had a face that clearly showed he was very displeased with the adoption of the T-34, but realizing that his neck would be in danger if he got on the General Secretary's nerves any further, he reluctantly stepped back.

Stalin turned his gaze back to the three men standing before him.

“Among the three of you, is there anyone dissatisfied with their dismissal?”

All three men were unable to say a word, and Stalin turned his gaze to Shaposhnikov.

“Who would be good for the successor as Chief of the General Staff?”

Although he was being dismissed, Shaposhnikov was overwhelmed with emotion that the General Secretary had still asked for his opinion and replied.

“Wouldn't General Meretskov be the right person, Comrade General Secretary?”

However, the General Secretary narrowed his eyes, as if displeased with his opinion.

“Isn’t he leading the Finnish Offensive in Leningrad right now? And even that didn't show proper results.”

His failure to show results in Finland was largely due to Voroshilov, who, as the overall commander, had only engaged in futile efforts.

It was an unfair situation for Meretskov, as he was just barely starting to shine after the Commander-in-Chief was changed to Timoshenko, only for Stalin to pull out the main force, but in any case, in the General Secretary's eyes, he was unimpressive.

Shaposhnikov pondered for a moment at the General Secretary’s reply, then opened his mouth again.

“There is a right person.

His fiery temper is a bit of a flaw, though.”

“Fiery or not, what I need right now is a man who can bring me victory in that damn it Finland and Poland.”

Hearing Stalin's words, Shaposhnikov nodded and replied.

“In that case, Comrade General Secretary, I believe General Georgy Zhukov would be good as my successor.”